Dump car and door-operating mechanism therefor



July 27 1926. 1,593,748

A. CAMPBELL DUMP CAR AND DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM THEREFQR Filed Dec. 26, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet l Z7 20/ F/a Z Z6 Z2 95 ARG-YLE CXMPBELL fl/s ATTOkA/EY July 27 1926. 1,593,748

A. CAMPBELL DUMP CAR AND DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM THEREFOR Filed Dec, 26, 1922 2 Sheets-$heet 2 A LECAMP ELL Hls ATTd NE Y Patented July 27, 1926.

UNITED STATES ABGYLE CAMPBELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 'ASSIGNOR.

ro nnrnnrnrsn RAILWAY EQUIPMENT COMPANY, OF CHICAGO. ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

DUMP; CAR AND DOOR QPEBATING MECHANISM THEREFOR Application filed December 26. Serial No. 608,831.

This. invention relates, to improvements in dump car, and door operating mechanism therefor.

One object of the invention is to provide a simple and ,eific'ient door operating mechanism and, mol'eparticularly, for dump cars of the side dumping type commonly used for coal, coke. and similar materials and wherein the operator is required to position him- .selfeatthe end of the car during the unloading of. the car or closingthe doors.

Another object of this invention is to providean improvedmeclianism for oscillating a dump door operating shaft.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dump car and door operating mechanism thereforso arranged that the door operating mechanism may be conveniently and Safelyoperated atthe end of the car byrepeated oscillation ofa bar or other suitable operating tool...

Amorespecificnbject of this invention is to provide a suitable operating mechanism which Willpositively move the doors tov a fullysopenposition and to provide suitable meansto retain the doors in the open position independently of the discharging load.

Other objects of theinvention will more clearly appear from .the description and .claims hereinafter following. I

In: the. drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is an end elevational view of a dump car illustrating my improvements in connection therewith. FigureQ is an end elevationalview of a portion, of the car illustrating the position assumed by the operating arms and links with the doors in the'fully opened position. Figure 3 is a longitudinal, vertical section taken partly near the longitudinal center of the caran d partly to one side thereof andgcorresponding substantially to the line 3 .3 shown onFigure 1. And Figure 4 is a detail end view of the shaft rotating. means. i

In saiddrawings, the car is designated generally by the reference lettcrA, the same being of that .type having; vertical-side Walls l0-1(),-. vertical end Walls 11 11, sloping end hopper bottom Walls 12-12 and central longitudinally extending ridge l3 dividing the car into side dumping hoppers, as clearly appears from Figure 1. The car. is provided along the sides thereof with a plurality ofside, dumping hopper doors l l l l, 1131*eferably four on a side, the same lacing hinged along their top edges. in any suitable manner to the sidesills or sidewalls of the car. The draft sills of the car are indicated at 15 in Figuresl and 3 the bolster at 16 and the end sill at17 with a narrow platform provided at 18 above the end sill. The end Walls 11. of thecar are suitably braced by angle corner posts 19 19. The ends of the individual hoppers'are defined by transverse vertical hopper sheets 2020, as indicated in Figure 1, there being spaces between the hoppers as indicated at 21, to ac commodate the element"; of the door mechanism hereinafter described.

The doors are all preferably operated simultaneously. Along each side of the car under the correspondingdownwardly and outwardly sloping hopper sheet.121 is extended a shaft'22 mounted in suitable brackets 23 supported by thecross members of the car underframe and hoppers. Each shaft 22 is provided at intervals therealong; with rigid arms Qt-to which are pivoted bent links 25 by means of pivots 26,'the opposite end of the links being in turn pivoted as indicated at '27 to suitable brackets on the doorsl i, h

As clearly.appears'from Figure 1, the points of pivotal connection 27 and, 26 at the ends of the links 25ers, so disposed that .a line joining the same will pass slightly be .low the axes of the shafts 22 when the-doors are in closed position. VVith this arrangement, the mechanism is made substantially self locking and the shafts 22 relieved of torsional strain While carrying theload. In order to relieve the pins 26. from undue strain and to prevent rapid wear of the same. each of the links 25 is provided with a radial shoulder 28 on its underside which is concentric with the axis of the pivotal connection between the link 25 and the arm 9d, but one relatively long radius, said shoulder 28 engaging with a corresponding shoulder 29 formed onthe arm 24. V

Referringmore particularly to Figure 2 it will be seen that the arms 24 and links 25 cooperate to. maintain the doors in open posit tion and in order to limit the relative swinging movement of the arms and links and thereby prevent the pivotal connections 26 from falling below'a predetermined point, each link is provided with ;a radial shoulder adapted to cooperate with a cooperating shoulder filfformed on the corresponding lit) arm 24;. The shoulders 30 and 31 abut against each other at the end of the full opening of the door and when in this position the axis of the pivotal connection 26 between the arm andv the link is on a line passing through the axis of the pivotal connec tion 27 between the link and the door and the axis of the shaft 22 thereby providing a self-locking feature for the mechanism in the open position of the doors.

The shafts 22 are simultaneously operated by a plurality of chains or other equivalent flexible connections 3232 which pass over sheave wheels 33 and 34- rigidly mounted on shafts 22 and 35, respectively. As indicated conventionally in Figure 1, one of the chains 32 will he crossed so that, as the shaft 35 is rotated in one direction, the two shafts 22 will be rotated in opposite directions due to the left and right hand mounting of the doors.

The shaft 35 is located just beneath the apex of the ridge 13, that is, it extends centrally horizontally and longitudinally of the car and for a distance slightly more than one-half of the length of the car. The center of the car is between the two sets of sheave wheels 3 1-fi4 shown in Figure 3, and it will be seen that the shaft 35 terminates slightly to the left thereof. Said shaft 35 is mounted in suitable bearings carried by members of the car underframe. the right hand end of the shaft, as view in Figure 3, being extended through bolster extension plates 36-36. The end of the shaft is located adjacent the end sill of the car and just inside the plane of the end wall 11 of the car and the vertical angle braces 37-37. At the said end, the shaft 35 is mounted in a suitable bearing 38 mounted on top of the sills 15. Secured to the end of the shaft 35 are two lever arms 39 and 40 disposed in angular relation with respect to each other and rigidly secured to each other by means of gusset plates 41 and an interposed tiller 42, said levers providing means for multiplying the power ratio in effecting rotation of the shaft. The lever arms are each perforated at their outer end to receive pivots 1-3 whereby flexible connections 44;, which preferably consist of chains, are secured to the levers.

The levers are adapted to move in unison with the shaft and a suitable winding mech anism is medianly disposed between the exextreme range of movement of the levers. Broadly this consists of a drum 15 having at each end thereof a bracket 4-6 to which one end of each of the flexible elements or chains 14 is secured. The chains 14 are preferably adapted to wind on the drum on the outside thereof and are adapted to wind in opposite directions whereby rotation of the drum will cause one chain to wind as the other unwinds. The drum 15 is preferably mounted on the car structure in such a manner that it will have rotation in the same plane of movement as the levers 39 and 40. The drum is rigidly mounted on a shaft 47 which has one end thereof extended inwardly from the end of the car and into a bearing 48 carried by a bracket 49 which is secured to the sloping end wall 12 of the car. The operating shaft 47 is extended outwardly beyond the vertical plane defined by the vertical end wall 11 of the hopper and mounted in a bearing 60 which is secured to the vertical angle braces 3737. Outside of the bearing 60, the shaft 17 carries a ratchet wheel 50 which is formed with a hub portion 151 extending within the bearing thereby providing a circular bearing for the shaft 17 which is formed with a square section for a portion of its length.

G avity pawls 51 and 52 are pivotally i.

mounted on the plate 60 and cooperate with the ratchet wheel 50 to lock the shaft 47 against accidental rotation as desired. Pawl 51 is adapted to engage the ratchet wheel 50 during the door opening movement, and pawl 52 during the door closing operation. A locking cam 53 is arranged to cooperate with the locking pawl 52 to lock the same against the ratchet wheel with the doors in closed position.

Outside or beyond the ratchet wheel 50, the shaft 47 carries a ratchet wheel 54: which is formed with hub portions on which a fulcrum wheel, formed of inner plate 55 and outer plate 56, is mounted. The fulcrum wheel is turned by means of an ordinary bar or stick of wood 57 as shown in Figure 1, adapted to be inserted between projecting fulcrums of posts 58 formed on the ratchet wheel. The fulcrum wheel is furnished with one or more reversible pawls 59 adapted to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel 54, whereby rotation of the latter is effected. By this means the dump doors may be operated in either direction and with entire safety to the operator as it will be observed that the operator may stand upon the end sill and effect the clos'ng and opening of the doors without danger of injury from the operating mechanism itself or from adjacent cars.

The operation is as follows, assuming that the doors are closed and the parts positioned as shown in Figure 1 wherein the lever ll) is shown in the extreme locked position and the pawl 52 and cam 53. in locked position with respect to the ratchet wheel 50.

To open the doors, the operator first (lisengages the locking cam 53 from its engagement with pawl 52 and subsequently disengages the pawl 52 from the ratchet wheel 50 and thereafter throws the pawl 51 into engagement with the said ratchet wheel. The pawl 59 is then caused to engage the ratchet wheel 54 and the bar 57 inserted be re ards tween the fulcrum posts 58 of the fulcrum Wheel 56 in such a mannerthat the operation of turning the fulcrum wheel will preferably be carried out by a lifting motion of the bar'57. The rotation of the drum 45 in the manner indicated will serve to slacken the chain 44 connecting the drum 45- and the door-raising lever '40 and tighten the otherchain connecting the drum- With doorreleasing lever 39 thereby moving the levers 39 and 40 in the direction indicated by the arrows 61. Rotation of the drum is effected by a series of oscillations of the bar 57 and during the interval when the operator is moving the bar in a downward direction for the purpose of enabling the pawl 59 to engage a succeeding tooth on the ratchet 54, the pawl 51 engages the ratchet '50 and thereby locks the drum against retrogressive move ment. Rotation of shaft 35 in this manner rotates the shafts 22 in opposite directions and after the same have been sufficiently rotated to release the self-locking linkages, the doors will open under the effect of the load and this is carried out without danger to the operator since the shaft 47 will rotate in a clockwise direction and the ratchet wheels 50 and 54 will run freely under pawls 51 and 59 respectively. -In mostcases the influence of the falling load will be sufficient to move the doors to the locked open position as shown in Figure 2, but it is a matter of common occurrence, during the winter time, for the load to freeze in the car and in this event, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatwmy improved operating mechanism is capable of positively opening the doors to the fullyopened position and for locking the same in the open position irrespective of the discharging load.

Itwill be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the flexible connections 44 will not wind or unwind at all times from the drum at exactly the same speed due to the fact that the ends of thelevers 89 and 40 travel in an arcuate path whereas the direction of the pull on the flexible connections between the same and the'druin is always in a straight line and inorder to compensate for such difference, I provide a certain amount of slack in the connections which is taken up by a limited degree of free move ment of the drum at the commencement of each winding or unwinding operation.

I have herein shown" and described what I now consider the preferred manner of carrying out the invention, but the same is merely, illustrative and I contemplate all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. In a dump car, the combination with a dump door operating shaft having angulaifly related ratio-multiplying lever 'ai-"ms rigidly secured thereto, one'efsaid arms heing adapted to be actuated for rotating the shaft in one direction and the other arinbeing adapted to be actuated for rotating the shaft in the opposite direction; transmitting means cooperating with said arms and adapted upon operation to effect movement of said arms to rotate said shaft in vopposite directions; and power multiplying means for operating said transmitting means.

L nism, the combination with a rotary shaft 5 of a plurality of angularly related oscillatable arms fixed relatively thereto; a shaft having rotary motion about an aXis'para-ll-el to the s of rotation of the first-named shaft; and winding power-transmitting connections between the last named shaft and each of the aforesaid angularly related-arms.

4. In a dump car, the combination with a driven shaft, a power shaft having a drum winding fixed relatively thereto; two angularly disposed arms fixed tosaid driven shaft, said arms being disposed on opposite sides of the aXis of said drum and movable toward and away from the same; flexible elements each having one end thereof secured to one of the angularly related arms and the other end thereof secured to the winding drum, one of the said flexible elements being adapted to wind on a portion of the said drum while the other element is unwinding from another portion thereof.

5. In a dump car, the combination with a rotary shaft, of means for effecting rotation of the said shaft in opposite directions, said means including a plurality of radially era tending lever arms disposed in angular relation with respect to each other and adapted to be acted upon torotate the shaft, the said lever arms having gusset plates extending from one arm to the other and. secured to both of the said arms to maintain the same in a spaced relation.

6. Ina dump car, a rotary shaft, and means for effecting rotation of the said shaft in opposite directions, said means including a plurality of radially extending lever arms disposed in angular relation with respect to each other and adapted to be acted upon to rotate the shaft, gusset plates extending from one arm to the other and disposed to either side thereof and ecured thereto, a filler member disposed between the gnssets intermediate of the levers, and means for securing the said filler and gussets together.

7. In a dump car having a longitudinally extending central ridge and side dumping 'hopper doors; the combination with a longitudinally and horizontally extending central shaft disposed beneath the apex of said ridge; of connections between said central shaft and doors; an operating shaft extending above the central shaft; and connections between said shafts comprising two angularly related arms rigidly secured to the central shaft and flexible connections extending from the operating shaft to each of the said angularly related arms, the operating shaft being adapted to exert a pull on one of the flexible elements to rotate the central shaft in one direction and on the other flexible element to rotate the central shaft in the opposite direction.

8. In a dump car, the combination with sloping side floors and hinged doors; of a shaft beneath said sloping side floors on each side of the car; toggle arms upon said side shafts; links coupling said toggle arms to said doors; a central shaft extending beneath the sloping side floors; connections be tween said central shaft and said side shafts whereby said side shafts may be simultaneously rotated to open and close said doors, the said central shaft having angularly related arms rigidly secured thereto; a drum rotatably mounted on the car structure; and flexible connections between each of the aforesaid arms and drum whereby rotation of the drum will effect the winding of one of the flexible connections thereon and cause the unwinding of the other of said flexible connections therefrom.

9. In a dump car, the combination with sloping side floors and hinged doors; of a shaft beneath said sloping side floors on each side of the car; toggle arms upon said side shafts; links coupling said toggle arms to said doors; a central shaft extending beneath the sloping side floors; connections between said central shaft and said side shafts whereby said side shafts may be simultaneously rotated to open and close said doors; and inechanisn'i for operating said central shaft, said mechanism including means for locking the central shaft against retrogressire movement thereof throughout the entire range of both the closing and opening movement of the doors.

10. In a dump car, the combination with sloping side floors and hinged doors; of a shaft beneath said sloping side floors on each side of the car; toggle arms upon said side shafts; links coupling said toggle arms to said doors; a central shaft extending beneath the sloping side floors; connections between said cent al shaft and said side shafts whereby said side shafts may be simultaneously rotated to open and close said doors, the said central shaft having angularly related arms rigidly secured thereto; a drum rotatably mounted on the car structure; flexible connections between each of the aforesaid arms and drum whereby rotation of the drum will effect the winding of one of the flexible connections thereon and unwinding of the other of said flexible connections therefrom; and means for effecting step by step rotation of said drum, said means including, a ratchet wheel movable in unison with said drum, a fulcrum wheel loosely rotatably moimted adjacent the ratchet wheel, and a pawl carried by said fulcrum wheel and cooperable with the ratchet to cause the fulcrum wheel and the ratchet wheel to move in unison, the said fulcrum wheel having a plurality of fulcrum posts fixed thereto to receive an operating lever.

11. In a dump car having a longitudinally extending central ridge, hopper doors, sloping end floor, vertical end posts; the combination with a longitudinally and horizontally extending shaft centrally disposed beneath the apex of said ridge; of connections between said shaft and hopper doors; a drum rotatably supported in brackets car ried by the sloping end floor and vertical end posts respectively; flexible connections between the said drum and centrally disposed shaft whereby rotation of the drum will effect rotation of the centrally disposed shaft in either direction; means located outside of the end posts for effecting rotation of the drum, said means including a ratchet wheel movable in unison with the drum, a fulcrum wheel loosely rotatably mounted adjacent the ratchet wheel, and a pawl carried by said fulcrum wheel and cooperable with the ratchet wheel to cause the fulcrum wheel and the ratchet wheel to move in unison, the said fulcrum wheel having a plurality of fulcrum posts fixed thereto to receive an operating lever.

12. In a dump car having a longitudinally extending central ridge, hopper doors and sloping end floor; the combination with a longitudinally and horizontally extending shaft centrally disposed beneath the apex of said ridge; of connections between said shaft and hopper doors; means for actuating said centrally disposed shaft, said means compris ing two angularly disposed levers secured to the shaft, a flexible connection secured to one lever whereby rotation of the shaft is effected to close the doors, and another flexible connection secured to the other lever whereby rotation of the shaft is effected to open the doors; winding mechanism adapted to wind one connection as the other connection unwinds; means for rotating said winding mechanism in both directions; and means for locking said winding mechanism against rotation in either direction.

13. In a dump car, the combination with a hopper body having a longitudinally extending central ridge, hopper doors, sloping end floor and vertical end posts; the combination with a dump door actuating shaft centrally disposed beneath the apex of said ridge; of angularly related arms secured to the shaft and movable in unison therewith; a bracket depending from the sloping end floor; a bearing secured thereto; a plate secured to the vertical end posts and having a bearing fixed thereto; a winding shaft rotatably mounted in the said bearings; a drum fixed relatively to the winding shaft and disposed between the said bearings; flexible connections connecting the drum and aforesaid lever arms a ratchet mounted on the winding shaft adjacent the end posts; a pawl adapted to lock the said ratchet against retrogressive movement during the opening of the doors; another pawl adapted to lock the winding shaft against retrogressive movement during the closing of the doors; a safety cam adapted to lock the latter pawl in engagement with the ratchet; and shaft rotating means carried by said winding shaft for eifecting a step by step rotation thereof.

14. In a dump car, the combination. with a door operating element; of a rotary operating shaft for said element; oscillatory lever ratio multiplying means fixed to said shaft for operating the same in either direction; and mechanism for oscillating said means, including a Winding drum and flexible means adapted to be wound on said drum, said Winding drum and said flexible means being operatively connected to said lever multiplying means and arranged to induce movement of said latter means in opposite directions.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 2nd day of December, 1922.

ARGYLE CAMPBELL. 

